The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1887-09-22
Decline of a Great Trade.

Slr-Maritimc defence. and necessarily al
American marine, was one of the chief object.
of tie Constitution. AS the adoption OF thi.
instrument was opposed vigorously, SO ther,
has bcci always a beggarlv and hase-niinde,
intolerance of the National interest in shipping
Upon the organization of The Government
petitions from the seaports, and particularly
from the South demanded navigation laws
fer the Peace of 1883 was no sooner proclaimed
than Great Britain nforccd policy of eXcud
NJ oiir vessels from her ports. And this she
continued to do, Notwithstanding her marine
shared largely with our own in the commerce
of the Confederation. On July 4, 1859. the
thirteen States of the Union asserted Their
shipping independence and our full emancipa
ton from British thraldonl, on the sea as Oh
the land, The American ship and her flag
came forth protected 10y the might of the
Nation. Congress wisely enacted that home
built vessels only could be sailed under tn,
flag of the United States. This protected moi
only >hiphuil,lin@ hut >hipowning. as these
Interests Use or fall together. But shipownne
was given Il special protection by discriminate
in- dues upon tonnage entering our ports, and
| by rebate of ten per cent from the duties OH
all Goods imported under our tlag.
This act was soon revised. the rebate with.
drawn and ten per cent extra duty laid on all
Determinations were adopted to secure the
a>iatic trade. These laws protected not only
our >lipowner> but our merchants, and in
duccd them to become owners: thus giving
Stability 10 commerce. security to navigation
| and success To shiphuilding. at the outset of
the GoNcrlnnent. The Importance and utility
Of this legislation has never been exceeded by
amy acts of Congress. Ship freight tran>por-
talion Is itself an export OF the cquva-
lent of an export 1t is always paid for
I,i,. a.,
.ore4u trade III early days was capable of
| representing an export OF SO ANNUALLY. In
llS9 when 1hr navigation laws were passed
! we had l23,Si tons in the foreign trade. In
The next wear we had nearly lroblcd the tom
mace; in five wears, nearly quadrupled it: at
nine years nearly quintuplcd ii and at the Ell,
of twelve Years We had almost aS much ton
mage in foreign trade ti:s5:lS toii>.l a> thirty
Two wears aftcrwarl pG4S.S69 tons.) After
six wears of ashin@tun'> Administration we
had half :i> much tonnage III foreign trade rs
We >aiI To-day; hui it earned and would have
Sold tor more hard money than our present
marine. After tWrniN-o years Of growth.
lSlo there WAS an absolute elimination OF
tonnage 1T !iSl ol9 tons about a> much we
| Iave now, but of double the carnin. capacity
because it had protected employment. In l7Sa
about forty per cent of imports and exports
was carried by foreign vessels This ratio
was soon eat down 10 ten per cent, and i'll
| some trattc> American vessels held monopoly
| OF the transportation.
| lpto the Peace of lSlJ. covering Il period of
| tWcntN->iN Years, the average annlial tonnage
i'll the foreign trade WAS tS2 So tons represent
ing An annual export of ut least Sl0,O0O.000.
and adding about sixteen per cent to the value
| of our commodities sent abroad. At this time
the Haine and fame of the American ship was
well known throughout the world. Hut if
England hated the doin9s of July 1. 1.7G she
utterly aE,horcd the act of July 4. 1859. She
used every means in her power. and finally
fought "A naval war in which She lost renown.
| shooting at the ships whose flags We're not run
| down. BAT a wise system of marine protcc-
ton had done its work. The Republic cvel-
oped its naval power and pro>pcrcda as no ynln"
maritime nation ever did before. Not only
our freedom but independence was established.
And for forty years, while protection lasted
the American marine carried back and forth
more than ninety per cent of our ocean cont
mcrcc. cnriching aud defending the whole
land. The evil day came. however. Commerce
and naNi igation had developed on geographical
lines. Political power no longer stood firmly
at its back. The men who never believe in
| ships. who would rather mne a mountain than
plough the main, the men who feared Old
England and NewEngIand did not love; all
| who held to trcu-ti;tdc theories; ,tema.oguc>
seeking office. and ready to lay on the altar OF
sacrifice all their wives relations: these and
the ignorant and boastful, We're ready at The
close Of the war with England Tin defence OF
shppin-) to strip protection from American
ships.
BY the act Of March 5. 1873, ii was proposed
to abolish all discriminating duties whatever
upon Vessels or their caryoc>. when the last
was the growth or produce of the country
where the vessel was owned, provided Il rccip-
rocal rule WAS there applied to the United
States. This statute was particularly address
| ed to Great Britain, and was followed by a
convention i'll December of the same wear, by
which a few advantages were yielded. The
passage of this act resulted In loss of tonnage
of six per cent. the next year. In Isl, the
act WAS amended to apply 10 all the nations
producing or non-producing. and opened our
trade 10 all the world upon terms of reciproc-
ity. We Were 10 give protection for free trade.
a certainty for an uncertainty. a orthright for
baub!c. Our >hipoWncr> prepared inmcdi-
ately for great change in their business. In
the next year the tonnage in foreign trade >uf-
fered shrinkage of twenty>iX per cent. 1t
| was set back to the figures of twenty wears
before. and for twenty wears after the enact
| ment of 1917 the average tonnage in foreign
trade (whalers eNcludcd) was only 6JG, 1j9
tons. an amount reached in the first decade Of
protective administration. 1t was 1872 before
we had again as much tonnage in foreign trade
as in 1877. But the greater nations not soon
adopting the new policy, the percentage of
| both imports and exports in American bot
toms rose slowly until 1926, when the bane
began to act. The highest percentage for inn
| ports was 80 i'll lS2J, and for exports, Sa.6 in
1S26. From 1918 the tonnage increased an
nualy. gaining tWenty-ei%ht per cent. in ten
years. but not fully repairing the loss inflicted
Cn 1873 by the act of 1917. This act had been
amended and several treaties made, but it was
| not sweeping enough to bring all nations. par
ticularly Great Britain. into line, to bear down
upon our merchants and capture the business
| Of their ships. There Were still Il few dis
ordinations left for shippin" defence. and it
was determined that final act should remove
| them. This act WAS passed MAY y. 1925 llay-
ing been recommended by President Adams in
lS23. The same Congress that turned our
| ships ont to free trade put on to manufac-
tunes the highest duty ever laid. Under reci-
| Proca rule. this net removed in all eases all en-
| ira duties on tonnage or merchandise. 1t i'll
Nitcd all the world to come into the American
trade and divide up the trading and tranSpor-
tation on the principle of 'catch catch can.
II offered the foreign commerce and navigation
| of the United States to any nation that could
| come and take il. as il was the intention of the
| law to reduce our tonnage and percentage of
| transportation. And this cancer is still con-
sumin" our vitals. | have not space to expose
the >ophi>try ia1tcry. nprobity and selfish
ness which characterized the arguments for
| this bad measure. the Most disastrous, in our
| history.
On the passage of this act the shipping com
mnnity. as in 1918, prepared for >llrinka.c in
business. The amount of tonnage was cut
| down twenty-five per cent. and twelve wears
passed before our shipping in foreign trade
Tfselcu again lne amount III ISIS with power to
hold on: but by 1910 we had lost six per cent
of relative transportation, which we never re-
gained. Great Britain accepted and entered
| upon complete reciprocity III 1870. In that sim
Gle year our tonnage fell of nine per cent.
In 1879 England had 1S.947 tons of shipping
entcrin" our ports. For ten years her average
amount had been 1G.5lS tons. In the next year
after reciprocity British entrances rose to 49,
| S06 tons, and for the first ten years follow ing
the average was 2l2,GGl tons, or siXty-three
per cent of all the foreign arrivals. In one
decade British trade almost quadrupled, while
in two decades American tonnage gained only
a bcggarly thirty per cent. The vessels on both
sides We're wooden sailing ships. Our foreign
commerce and transportation has been doubled
to each nlabtant since the passage of the
Reciprocity act. American vessels have lost
forty-two per cent and foreign ships have gain
ed 40 per cent in sixty years. as the follow
ing table will show:
Value of imports and
| exports carried fol
| each person of the
United States.
| Average Am Form